Heroic stranger confronts period shame with a fanny pack full of tampons

Sasha Brown-Worsham has written for dozens of publications over the course of her years as a journalist and blogger. She lives outside NYC with her three children, husband, and multiple pets. She is working on her first novel.

Carrying emergency tampons when you don't even menstruate is damn good citizenship

Any woman who has ever had her period knows the grand embarrassment of being caught somewhere without a tampon. I could tell you countless stories of times I thought I had a change in my purse and went into the bathroom only to find I was sans quarter (honestly, places that charge for tampons should be indicted) and sans tampon or pad.

Short of stuffing toilet paper in our underwear and hoping it holds, our only hope at these times is the other women in the bathroom at the time. More than once I have found myself begging for a tampon and being so grateful when a stranger came through. All of this is why the story of Chance Ward, a student at Occidental College in California, is so powerful. See below:

So I'm in the gym today (getting my life to Truffle Butter on this elliptical ofc) when the girl next to me asks her...

The funny thing is, it made me think. Of course I have tampons and pads in my bathroom, but do I have them in the guest bathroom? No. Maybe I need to think about these things not only for myself but also for my fellow women.

There are places, like my gym, where the tampons are free, and I bless those places (because who has their wallet with them in the bathroom), but more often than not, the bathroom machine costs a quarter or is out of tampons or is out of order. That seems ridiculous when you think about it.

Menstruation is a normal part of our lives. We all do it. It's OK. So why aren't we better prepared to help out one another? I am going to throw an extra tampon in my purse right now so I am ready with one should anyone ever ask. This is an inspiring story and one we all would do well to consider. Periods are part of life. There is no shame in that.